John Deere Advertises 150 Jobs In Madrid; 15,000 Show Up

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at a meeting of Parliament in July.

Photo: Reuters

The front page of Spanish newspaper El País Tuesday featured a photo of a queue: a 15,000-person strong contingent of people looking for jobs at the John Deere factory in the Getafe district of Madrid, The Telegraph reported.

John Deere had listed 150 open positions, and as of Monday said they had seen more than 15,000 applications for them, 100 for each one.

One young applicant told El Pais: "The truth is I have no idea what the job is, beyond that it is at a factory. I spent from 12.30 to 4 p.m. in the line and I don't care what the work is."

Employment agency Adecco said it will be narrowing the list to 1,500 before considering candidates for the 150 listed positions.

That is, only one in 100 applicants will be hired.

Such grim figures have become commonplace in the country reeling from a crippling financial crisis.

Spain’s official unemployment rate is now nearly 25 percent, the highest level among industrialized nations.

The Spanish government Tuesday released figures that half a million people lost their jobs in the fiscal year ended September.

Moreover, the Unión General de Trabajadores labor federation revealed that an additional million people have been searching for work for at least two years.

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